Gift of the Magi
by Luna Tiger
Summary: A story based off of the short story by the same name. Please shoot me for the tasteless ending.


  
  
**Disclaimer**: Standard. =P Like hell I'd be the one to own these people. 

Based on a short story by the same name.. Dammit, who wrote it, anyway. o.o I love the story. 

* * *

Gift of the Magi 

It was Christmas. Trees were covered in lights and tinsel, carolers sang from door to door with music of good cheer and merry thinking, and the ground was lucky enough to be covered in a beautiful blanket of snow. 

And then, there were the last minute gift givers. Rock was having the worst time trying to think of gifts for his brother (who he wasn't too sure would even show up for the holidays) and for Forte (who, despite his nastiness, needed love and care too). But what do you get a person who doesn't own any personal belongings (to his knowledge) and a person who likes to plunder the country side for fun? 

Not much. That was evident. Oh, and the bad part. Rock was nearly broke. But that's what you get for getting Roll a straight jacket and Dr. Light three years worth of coffee. 

As he past shop after shop, Rock frowned. There wasn't much. But then again, Christmas Eve was tonight and not many of the stores were still open. Just a few, ones that he may not be able to find anything in. 

But, he looked around all the ones he could, finding nothing that would make great gifts. Rock sighed in defeat and began to leave the last store, but as he did, something caught the corner of his eye. The Blue Bomber blinked, and made his way past the rack of clothing to the wall in back of it. 

There, sitting on the table, were the perfect gifts. One was a pair of ebony-dyed ivory combs, one wide and one deep. The other.. a tacky yellow long-stocking hat, much like Christmas elves supposedly wear. Rock grinned. Forte was vain with his hair and Blues... well, was Blues, with his bad fashion statement. These would just make it all worse. 

_Perfect!_ It was all grins and smiles.. until he read the price tags. Unfortunately, it was real ivory [A/N: Don't kill elephants!] and very high quality wool [A/N: Don't kill--er, shear sheep!], which made the items very pricey. Something he couldn't afford at the moment. Maybe in a mouth or two, but that would never do. 

Rock whined and shook his head. Of course, Christmas wouldn't be the same if he could get everyone he loved a gift.. and in Forte's case, everyone he wished could be his friend. As he made to move away, something pressed up against his skin. Rock blinked, totally forgetting about the Em-dali pendant around his neck. 

Em-dali crystals were very rare, but Rock had taken to collecting them every since he found his first nearly fifteen years ago. He had eleven all melded into an exotic design of his choosing: a snowflake locked in a classic crystal's prison. The one flaw was that the prison was missing a 'wall', per se. He needed a twelfth to complete it. 

_Maybe if I sold it..._

There was a peddler just up the street. Rock asked the shopkeeper of the current store if he could hold on to the three items until he came back. The man agreed and Rock was off, running as fast as he could to the pawn shop. And what luck. The woman who ran the shore was just about to close up. 

"Miss, wait!" 

The woman looked up at the boy who called her name. Rock slowed down and stopped in front of her, breathing heavily the frigid air. "I'm sorry, Miss. I know it's the holidays and all, but would you care to do one more appraisal before you close? Please?" 

The woman eyed him thoughtfully. "And what would you have that could be any value to me?" 

That stung. She had a poison tongue.. It probably wasn't worth it, to deal with her. "Well, if you don't want to look at my Em-dali crystals, then I'll just have to take my business elsewhere." 

He started to walk back down the street when the woman grabbed his shoulder and spung him back around. "Em-dali? Let me see." 

Rock, with an ultimate sense of hesitance, plucked at the string that held the crystals and showed it to her. The woman's eyes literally lit up with delight... or greed, give or take. She hurried to unlock the door and shooed the boy inside. Rock could only blink as the woman turned into a tornado, settling him near the counter and she rushed behind it. "May I see it?" 

Rock removed the make-shift pendant and handed it to the waiting hand. The woman brought out an eye-magnifier and studied the crystals, judging their shape counting them as well. "..nine...ten..eleven... My! This is a wonderful example of Em-dali jewelery. Where did you buy it?" 

"I didn't buy it, ma'am. I found the crystals and made it myself." 

She didn't believe it, but that didn't matter. "I can give you 25,000 zenni for it." 

Rock put some thought into that. He wasn't a money mongor, nor did he really need the extra cash. The price was enough to buy three extra sets of combs and five hats, but if that's what she was offering... "I'll take it." 

The woman smiled to herself as she made a credit chip for that amount. The crystals were worth twice the price she offered; a simple boy wouldn't have known that, however. She gave Rock the chip and smiled as she put the necklace in a wooden box for safe-keeping. "Thank you for your business." 

"Thank you too." Rock pocketed the chip and moved towards the front door. Before he left though, all he said was, "I would've given it up for less." 

It made him smile as the greedy woman gawked at him. But not now. He had to buy those gifts... 

* * *

It was 2:19 in the morning when Rock slipped out of bed, tossed on snow boots and a warm coat over his PJ's, and made his way outside. There had been a note on his pillow before he had gone to bed saying for him to come to so and so at 2 am. He was late, sadly, but that didn't stop him from following the directions. 

Where he landed was a mountain cliff and oh dear lord, it was even colder up there. But, a warm glow came from a path off to the right and Rock moved his numb legs that way. 

It was a shallow cave with a narrow entrance and a rounded belly. A fire blazed cheerfully in the middle and around it sat three familiar people. 

Forte had a snide edge to the expression he wore, which seemed down right miserable. He was decked in black jeans, black boots, a black coat with .. team logo of some sort patched onto the left breast, and a cute, black knit hat. The epitome of evil in a cozy package. 

His brother, on the other hand, wore lots and lots of warm clothing. Brown leather boots, some warm pants and a huge, red down jacket. And no Blues came complete without the shades. Yet, something seemed to be missing off of him and he couldn't pinpoint what. And then Tango. The cat, who /shouldn't/ have been cold, wore a homemade cat sweater and had a bright red bow around his neck. He was purring softly in Blues' lap. 

"Hey..." 

All three looked up. Tango leaped out of the comfortable lap to rub up against the new leg that had appeared. Blues offered a smile and Forte looked indifferent, really just wanting to sneer at the boy who kicked his ass so lovingly time and time again. 

Rock sat down beside his brother, content enough to give the shadow slinker a big hug. Hey, the holiday spirit made you do nice things. And he would have embraced Forte... but the ebony boy didn't seem very cheerful at the moment. 

Then, Blues dug around in his pocket and pulled out a tiny box, about three inches long and one inch wide. He handed it to Rock and explained, "Now, you better appreciate this. Forte and I really had to pool in for this." 

"Yeah," grumbled Forte, frowning. "I had to make a big sacrifice to help pay for that damn thing." 

Rock didn't know if Forte was being sarcastic or truthful, but decided against the former and put the box down. "Well, let me give these to you first." He pulled his coat open and produced two finely wrapped presents and handed one to Blues and one to Forte. "You aren't the only one to make sacrifices." 

Well, as per tradition, it was an alphabetical rotation, which started with Blues and ended with Rock. Blues tore open the wrapping on his gift, took one look inside, and promptly burst out laughing. Rock blinked, confused, and Forte scowled. "What's so funny, old man?" 

Blues simmered down to giggles, took the hat out with a squeal-- a fucking squeal! o.O--, and put it on with a genuine love. He was grinning with an eerie happiness that was not befitting of the kagemusha kind. 

Rock was smiling and Forte was horrified. "Oh my god, it's hideous! It's just as tacky as your scarf was!" 

_Wait. 'Was'?_ "What does that mean?" 

"It means," said Blues, who was failing to fend Tango away from the end of the hat, "I had to barter away my scarf for money. It fetched a high price though." 

"Ohh..." Rock looked mournfully at Blues neck and, indeed, it was true. That's what had been missing off of his brother. 

"Yeah yeah. ....My turn." Forte didn't seem all that pleased, expecting his own present to be cheap and worthless, but when he did lift the lid, the cobra was shocked into speechlessness. And the two brothers recognized it right away. 

"Well?" 

With a sad expression, Forte lifted one of the combs up. Blues frowned. But Rock was confused. "What's the matter?" 

Slowly, Forte grabbed at his hat and pulled it away, closing his eyes in deep regret. The long, bottom-of-shoulder length hair was reduced to something similar to the haircuts Rock and Blues possessed, minus the real wildness. Rock's heart sank. "That was your sacrifice?" 

Forte didn't answer, but Rock's spirit lifted when the taller bot gave him a genuine smile. "Thanks, though. I appreciate the thought." 

Rock smiled back and nodded, and then looked down at his own gift. Something inside of his heart told him what it was, but it was to be found out as the paper fell away and he opened it. 

It was the twelfth Em-dali crystal he had needed. 

* * *

The day had been long, hard, and tiresome. Mavericks had been swarming the cities with brutal forces. Both sides had been mauled and butchered and the weather was outrageous. Snow, snow, everywhere. The human Hunters couldn't even go out there, it was so cold. And worse yet... it was Christmas Eve. 

Mavericks didn't have the hearts to let the citizens of Japan enjoy a night of peace when peace was most needed. But, it was over and Zero Omega now helped a limping Megaman X down the hall to his room. The infirmary was packed full and the wound on X's leg wasn't fatal, so he had been bandaged up and began protesting the entire way back that he didn't need Zero's help. 

And for the eighty-second time, Zero shushed him. "It's supposed to be the season for thankfulness, dammit, so be thankful! Oi, Yaka-chan, you can be such an ingrate." 

"Wahhhh, Z! I am perfectly fi~iiii....!" 

Zero made a quick grab for the falling reploid before he fell straight unto his butt. X blinked in disbelief at the clumsiness and Zero scowled. "Now /what/ were you saying?" 

"Gomen nasai, Z-san." 

"Much better." 

And silence ensued, until they finally reached the right room. X nodded his thanks and thoroughly assured his friend that he'd be alright. Zero was sceptical, but turned around to walk back to his own room with a brief goodnight. But he didn't get very far, before X said, "Oh, Zero?" 

"Eh?" And X smiled brightly. "Meri Kurisumasu, Zero." 

Zero couldn't help be return a small one of his own. "You too, Yakasa. You too." 

* * *

After a successful shower (A/N: XD there's nothing better than a vulnerable X with a towel around his waist), X fished around in his closet and pulled out his favorite pair of pajamas. After throwing them on, X yawned. 

It was cut off in mid-ahhhh when the Blue Bomber spoted the small, black box on his pillow. A card was attached to it and, curiously, X picked both up and read the small note.. 

_50 years isn't enough to dampen the bonds once forged by the Christmas fire. Love is where you once found it and shall forever burn brightly in our hearts until the day that we gather and light that fire once more. Merry Christmas, Yakasa._

"....." Hesitantly, X put the card down and, with a great sense of care, opened the box. Meanwhile, Zero was looking into his own box and nearly hurting with déja vu. 

  
  
"You did it?" 

"Mmmm..." 

Laughter. "I congratulate you on getting past their security." 

"Ha. Like there's a security system that can hold me out." 

"And I see your ego inflating... So, now that they've gotten their possession back.... I see Crystal predicting you wearing that damn hat with your birthday suit." 

".........Oh shut up." 

* * *

The story The Gift of the Magi reminds us that Christmas is about the spirit of giving and caring, not about what you get and to cherish what you have received, because it was most likely a gift from the heart. 

Merry Christmas!! ^_^ 


End file.
